rogers



(No Model.)

J. W. ROGERS.

ELECTRIC CONDUCTOR.

Patented June 12,1883.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES \VEBB ROGERS, OF NEWV YORK, N. Y.

ELECTRIC CONDUCTOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 279,189, dated June 12,1883,

Application filed March 29, 1883.

T0 at whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMEs WVEBB ROGERS,

a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York, in thecounty of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Electric Conductors, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to electric conductors fortelephones, telegraphs,electric lights, electric transmission of power, and other purposes, andits object is to furnish a simple and cheap conductor that can bereadily and quick I the thin longitudinal ribbon or tape of copper whenthe latter is supported by insulators or other supports at aconsiderable distance apart, and to prevent such thin ribbon or tapefrom breaking.

It is well known that a thin tape or ribbon of metal is a betterconductor of electricity than a solid wire having the same area of crosssection, because of the well-known tendency of the electric current topass upon the surface of a conductor instead of through the body of thesame. At the same time the materials whose conductivity is largesuch asof copper stretched between distant points, v

and this I accomplish by combining with such strip a wire of steel orother metal of high tensile strength, wound spirally on the ribbon ofcopper, so as to support the same, but to still preserve theindividuality of the copper con- (No model.)

ductor as a longitudinal conducting tape or ribbon, while at the sametimepreventing it from being broken by the strain to which it wouldotherwise be subjected. If the copper tape or ribbon or the steel wirebe insulated. with an insulating-covering, the two could be used asindependent conductors; or one could be used as a return-conductor forthe other.

One of the forms that my invention may take in practice is shown in theaccompanying drawing.

In thedrawing, A indicates a thin longitudinal strip, tape, or ribbon ofcopper or other good conductor, and B a wire of steel or other materialof high tensile strength, wound upon A. As before intimated, either thewire B or the ribbon A may be insulated. In the drawing the wire isshown as having an insulating-covering.

By my invention I secure great conductivity with a minimum of material.The conductor can be made cheaply and in large quantities from ordinaryrolled copper ribbon or strips and steel wire, and with a minimum lengthof copper ribbon for the distance covered by the conductor.

If the wire on the tape be insulated, the con ductor can be used asaleading and return conductor for telephones, and the disturbing effectsof induction avoided.

\Vhat I claim as my invention is 1. An electric-line conductor composedof a thin longitudinal copper ribbon or strip wound with a spiralsupportingwire of greater tensile strength.

2. An electric-line conductor composed of a straight copper ribbon orstrip and a spiral supportingwire of steel.

3. An electric-line conductor composed of a straight copper ribbon orstrip, and a spiral supporting-wire of steel having an insulatingcovering.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York,this 27th day of March, A. D. 1883.

JAMES w'EEE ROGERS.

